Mosaic Mural Honors Endowment Campaign Donors

A couple years ago (before I started teaching at Synergy) the school had a large capital fund endowment campaign. The biggest donors were to be honored on a student made donor wall. The project was unfinished when I took it on, and I decided to change the design for some practical design reasons.

Children came to the art room once a week after school for many months to make tiles. The clay was rolled, at long rectangle was traced and cut out. The names of the donors were created by pressing pasta letters into the clay and designs were added around the names. After firing, the children applied a black underglaze to the tiles, working the color deep into the letters and designs, then wiped off the excess glaze with a damp sponge. A colored translucent glaze was applied on top. The tiles were brought to Clay People in Richmond for a high fire.

This week Carol Bevilacqua, a mosaic mural artist from Richmond, came to work with the children to install the tiles. The children who worked on making the tiles were invited to help install the work. On the first day, the tiles were cemented to one of the support pillars in the soft yard. On the second day a terra cotta colored grout was applied in between. The tiles were carefully picked and wiped clean. The finished column looks outstanding! It has that hand-made Synergy “look” and complements the older mosaic murals.

We will have a special celebration planned for it’s completion on November 6th. Keep your eyes open for the invite! In the meantime, stop by the soft yard when you are at school to check it out!

By Pam Heyda, Synergy’s Art Teacher

Originally posted on https://synergyschoolart.wordpress.com/